EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

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Joint labour policy - made in the Baltic Sea Region - (24/07/2018)

The global financial crisis, which hit Europe in 2008, resulted in intensive, barely controllable labour migration in the Baltic Sea region mainly from eastern to western countries. The eastern countries were suffering from youth unemployment and emigration. The western recipient countries were struggling to employ immigrants properly. Uncertainties regarding wages, taxes, social benefits, and working time often ended in unfair treatment of foreign employees. As a response to these developments, 21 social partners including employers' associations, trade unions, and governments from nine countries around the Baltic Sea established a platform called Baltic Sea Labour Network (BSLN), which was launched as an Interreg project in 2008. This cooperation around the Baltic Sea was an indispensable necessity, as Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt, project manager of the BSLN, explained: "None of the problems could have been solved in only one country". The social partners' challenge was twofold: to make labour mobility smoother and to lower emigration.

The Baltic Sea Labour Forum has expanded since the end of the project in 2011 as new members joined the organisation. This transnational social dialogue not only helps meet challenges within labour markets around the Baltic Sea, it is also a platform for sharing experiences between different cultures. "In every country the employer and trade union organisations negotiate with each other about salaries, about working conditions and other things in different ways," says Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt. These differences give a chance to learn from each other and come up with more constructive solutions. By maintaining a transnational social dialogue between politicians, employers’ associations and trade unions, the Baltic Sea Labour Forum originally funded by Interreg continues to foster European integration for a more competitive Europe.

Routes4U Second call for experts - (10/07/2018)

Routes4U Project is a joint programme between the Council of Europe (Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes) and the European Commission (Directorate-General Regional and Urban Policy). The project fosters regional development through the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme in the four EU macro-regions, according to the Faro Convention.

This second call for experts aims to achieve gender and regional balance in our experts database, completing the list set up during our first call for experts. We are seeking professionals in the following fields of expertise:

EuroAccess, acting as a gateway to EU funding, provides the key data of more than 200 EU funding programmes, including (but not limited to!) all Interreg programmes that operate within the geographical scope of the EU macro-regional strategies. Potential applicants can look for open calls for project proposals and filter results based on their type of organisation, their country of origin, and the thematic focus of their project idea, amongst others.

The European Commission coordinates the efforts of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. For news and information on the activities and progress of the Strategy as curated by the various stakeholders, please visit the EUSBSR's dedicated website at www.balticsea-region-strategy.eu.

The EUSBSR is the first comprehensive EU strategy to target a ‘macro-region’.

The eight EU countries that make up the Baltic Sea Region (Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) face several common challenges which are reflected in the jointly-agreed Action Plan for the Strategy. It includes a number of policy areas/horizontal actions to save the sea, connect the region and increase prosperity – each accompanied by concrete flagships as well as by clearly identified targets and indicators. The Strategy helps to mobilise all relevant EU funding and policies and coordinate the actions of the European Union, EU countries, regions, pan-Baltic organisations, financing institutions and non-governmental bodies to promote a more balanced development of the Baltic Sea Region.

The Commission publishes regular reports on the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

Achievements so far include:

Support for new projects, including cooperation between farmers to reduce eutrophication and improved planning for transport infrastructure;

Greater involvement of Russian partners in areas like environmental protection, water quality and innovation;

Improved cooperation between regions and other partners, including the private sector

Although the Strategy does not come with extra EU financing, a considerable amount of funding is already available to the region through EU regional policy, other EU programmes and financial instruments, and various international financial institutions. More information on funding may be found at the EUSBSR website.